Dying Crapshooter's Blues - Blind Willie McTell

Dying Crapshooter's Blues - Blind Willie McTell

3:11

single, 1940

Written by Blind Willie McTell

McTell recorded this song three times, but this is the original version, as evidenced by the spoken-word introduction, in which he says it's a song "I made myself, originally this is from Atlanta."  Interestingly, he wrote it around 1927 and it was recorded in that era by several different women blues singers, but he didn't commit it to wax until 1940.  Over a sparse twelve-string, McTell lays out the hallucinatory dying wish of the funeral of a gambler who used "crooked cards and dice," shot by the police; the reason is not given.  The dying man demands, among other things, police in his funeral march, the high sheriff at the head playing blackjack. "One foot up, a toenail dragging / Throw my buddy Jesse in the hoodoo wagon."  A marked card on his hearse, the judge putting dice in his shoes.  "I want nine men going to the graveyard / But only eight mens comin' back."  It's an eerie, surreal vision, the revenge poetry of the damned, and it's easy to see how this ironic black humor inspired Dylan's later, similarly hallucinatory jeremiads.

Fixin' To Die Blues - Bukka White

Fixin' To Die Blues - Bukka White

2:48

single, 1940

Written by Bukka White

This song is a prime example of prewar Chicago blues.  I know the version from Bob Dylan's first album, which has many of the same lyrics but is as transformed as Led Zeppelin's reinventions of blues standards.  This one is just an insistent bottleneck guitar riff with backing from Washboard Slim, a counterpoint to White's worn but forceful vocal.  The lyrics circle familiar blues themes of death and loss, but without delving into melancholy.  It's bleak but realistic, all motion, rhythm, and the stubborn insistence on going with dignity ("Mother take my children back, 'fore they let me down / I don't need for them to be screamin' and cryin' on the graveyard ground").

By the Spoonful - J.D. Short

By the Spoonful - J.D. Short

3:49

single, 1940??

Written by J.D. Short

I've never heard of him, but Short made records with Son House and Big Joe Williams, so he's the real deal.  (Also making him the real deal: a feud with another musician in which Short stabbed him and he shot Short's testicles off.)  This rollicking blues is a declaration of serious addiction, probably to a drug, but I guess it could metaphorically be about a loved one ("hit it all night long" could easily fit either interpretation).  But this guy, he'd kill his parents for a taste.  "It's all I crave, sugar, my babe, just a spoonful, spoonful / It's all I crave, sugar, my babe, carry me to my grave."  It's a catchy delta blues shuffle that picks up steam as it goes along, harmonica occasionally punctuating Short's vibrato-inflected voice.  I can only guess at the year released, information online on Short being scanty at best.

Beat Me, Daddy, Eight To the Bar - The Andrews Sisters

Beat Me, Daddy, Eight To the Bar - The Andrews Sisters

2:54

single, 1940

Written by Don Raye, Hughie Prince, and Ray McKinley

Pounding boogie-woogie piano and horns, with expert harmonies.  Supposedly, a pianist named Freddie Slack was nicknamed Daddy, and McKinley, a drummer, would ask for a boogie beat, or eight to the bar.  A couple of songwriters heard him, and a song was born.  The sisters' cheeky harmonies really make the song, bouncing effortlessly between playful syncopation and silky smooth blend.

Corrine, Corrina - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

Corrine, Corrina - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

3:25

single, 1940

Written by Charlie McCoy and Bo Chatman, 1928

I thought this song was traditional, but I guess it's credited to the people who first recorded it.  Everybody and their brother has done this song, even Cab Calloway!  I've heard a couple, but am really only familiar with Bob's version.  Anyhoo, this is a great example of jaunty Western swing.  It's a honky-tonk blend of steel guitar twang, piano, and big-band shuffle styles.  The vocal is heavy on aw-shucks personality ("I love Corrina / You know darn well I do"), peppered with cowboy interjections.